1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a watering mat for the large-area distribution of water, particularly in horticulture and landscaping as well as in agriculture, comprising one first and one second carrier layer to accommodate elements of the watering mat, one or more connections for connecting the first and the second carrier layer, one or more water-feeding elements arranged between the first and the second carrier layer for feeding water into the watering mat and distributing water through the watering mat, and one absorption layer for water storage arranged between the first and the second carrier layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
When in the following the term water is used, it is meant to include in addition to water also mixtures that are predominantly based on water but can also contain constituent portions of other substances such as nutrients, vitamins, or trace elements. These substances may be present in dissolved or undissolved form.
Various irrigation systems are known in the field of horticulture that are designed specifically for use in green-house applications, allow a very precise metered application, and as a result possess a comparatively complicated design. For example, DE 20 19 423 A describes an irrigation device for plants in planters or other vessels, which possesses a special pressure compensating feature to facilitate a uniform water discharge even on uneven surfaces.
Disclosed in DE 199 33 554 A1 is a below-ground supply system for the large-area watering of cultivated planted areas, in which elastic hoses equipped with discharge outlets with valve-like action are installed below ground in the agrarian area and are connected to a water supply system. These are used to continuously provide moisture to the ground zones adjoining the hoses above and below using a metered water-feeding system. For this, the individual hoses are arranged with a spacing of approximately 60-70 cm and at a depth of approximately 30-60 cm below ground and on both sides are connected to comb-shaped pipes, which also are installed below ground and are supplied with water. For this particular supply system, arranging the irrigation hoses for a large-area application is very costly in terms of both time and money.
DE 101 18 643 describes a textile watering mat for the large-area distribution of water, preferably in the below-ground region of a horticulture or landscaping installation. In this watering mat, watering hoses are arranged at certain intervals between two webs of fleece material with water-conducting capability. The watering mat can be manufactured at low cost and is easy to install. A drawback is that for regulating the ground moisture one has to employ external measuring devices, such as for example tensiometers. When irrigating large areas, this results in unacceptably high costs. For this reason, the water feed is usually adjusted in accordance with experience values, which in unfavorable cases can lead to undesired seepage losses, or to dry soil, e.g., given extreme levels of sunshine. Furthermore, in some regions it is possible that the salt content in the ground acts together with the capillary action of a ground layer to cause salt accumulation in the watering mat. It is generally known how to disrupt the ground capillary action using a capillary barrier, e.g., in form of a gravel layer. This solution is only feasible in special cases on account of the poor availability of the material and the associated high costs. The watering mat of DE 101 18 643 possesses a comparatively high water-storage capacity due to the existing webs of fleece material with filler strips located in between. To further enhance the water-storage capacity, an increase in the buffer-storage characteristics would be desirable. Employing thicker webs of fleece material can not solve this problem on account of the associated costs.